Fuse for armor-piercing projectiles.



R. IMPERIALI.

FUSE POR ARMOR PIERCING PROJEGTVILBS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 16. 1907.

' Patented Nov. 1'?, 1908 UNITED sTATEsgPATENT carros. j

ROBERTO IMPERIALLoF NAPLES, iTALY..

FUSE Fon Annen-PIERCING Pnorncfrims.

' l. "Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

Application led February 16, 1907. Serial No. 357,753.

To 'all whom it may concer/n:

B e 1't known that I, ROBERTO subject of the King of Italy, residingat 297 Corso Umberto, in the city of Naples, Kingdom of Italy, 'have invented' a new and useful Improvement in Fuses for Armor-Pierc- .ing Projectiles; and do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact de --scription of the same.

I' The object of the present invention con.- slsts of a'load-fuse that is a fuse carrying in itself not only the vmeans of igniting the .bursting charge, but also this charge itself. This fuse acts by the'crushing of its metallic yiapoint, when Ithe projectile ystrikes against the man of war or other vessel or ship and the fulniinating cap lights the slow match di' rectly and this res the whole charge after- '.wardsf The explosion, therefore, takes has an internal cavity, by t -fuse -2. j

the projectile is screwed on or else fastenedl place a few moments after ,the shock,'that is wheni the projectilehas penetratedinto the vesse In' the 4 accompanying drawings I a loadedfuse ymade according to this `invention is shown as an example. v

Figure l shows asection of such a Vperfovrating projectile with the loaded fuse in the interior. Fig. 2 shows o'n'an enlarged scale, the loaded fuse alone,'an`d Fig. 3 shows on a still more enlarged scale the head of the fuse.

The projectile -1- as shown in Fig.1, that is almost filled The bottom .3- of after' the fuse has been inin zfiy other way tro uced into it. .Between the walls of the grenade and the fuse -2 a small space -4- will remain free, which' will lpermit the fuse to `run forward in the shell and reach theextremity of this cavity, when the fuse stops against any live power acquired will act on the point J2 and 3) take place,

-5- with great force. The distance -30- (Fig. 1 between the point -5` andthe bottom of the inner cavity L1- is determined in .relation to the thickness ofthe armor and to thepiercing capacity of the project-ile l so that the explosion'may when the projectile has entirely penetrated into the'vessel. The fus'e (Figs.

consists of -an external shell 6- close'd atthe bottom by the lid 7-` which is screwed on. lIllu-lts"center it has an annular cavity that surrounds the tube -.8-, this is soldered tothe shell -6-- and has a common axis with iti In this tube -l8.- a

IMPERIALI, a

.ter and hasa centraltube -the striker' or percussion bolt -23- can obstacle, so that the.

l which, being 'the gun, the charge fast 1 The cylinder -9-5 is placed and screwed It has fixed ends 10- and -'-,11.

central space -12- and the annular cavityv 3- are .filled with gun cotton or any other'powerful explosive material.

'The head llof the cylinder -'9- has acentral hole with a flange -14-z This is furnished with a screw thread in which .the

sleeve is screwed and it bears with 1ts flange' 16- onthe head -l1'-. In this sleeve the ignition tube 17- is adapted and it fits exactly with .the conicalsurface 1S-F. This tube carries the slow match -19- consisting of a suit'ableslow burning.

powder and this tubeis furnished also with a fulminating cap -20-. Around the head of the tube and the', sleeve -'15- is placed the ring -Q1` which is .screwed to the lat- `22 in which slide.' This percussion orl striking bolt has a tail end Q4- furnished with a screw thread and a ange +25. Arin'g 26 is yscrewed on the -tube Q2- fand is prothe flange "25- of the percussion bolt .4-234- is resting. Between the liange #2.5-

indicatedand the superior face of thetube #Q2- there is the space 2S- in which the percussion bolt may slide freely,but this movement cannot take place on account of the small cap l--29--, the internal cavity of which 'has avsmall female screw engaging or acting on the screw of the tail end -e24, so

.as to pull up the percussion bolt '-23- and prevent its contact with the fulminating cap from which it will remain distant a few millimeters. The load fuse may be prepared completely in all its different parts except the cylinder 9-, which willbe inat the' troduced into the tube -8- only' l moment when the projectile is to be used: This cylinder guided by the tube -Swis screwed to sleeve -l-at the upper, ex-y tremity and to tube -8- at the lower extremity. The explosive material contained,

in the space -12'- will be slightly compressed and moved aside by the tube -17- main against the bottom of the'projectile.

small, will not prevent the the motion of the outer shell is checked but the inner shell continues to move until it hits the inner Wall of. the projectile point and as the small pointed cap-shaped cover -.-29 and the ring -QG are made of ductile metal, the violent shock will produce the compl ete crushing of these parts, the percussion bolt will encounter the fulminating cap and the match -19-`- will be ignited and this being of slow combustion, the charge or load Will explode somewhat after the shock and thus give the projectile the 'neces sary time to penetrate inside the vessel that has been struck.

The fuse described possesses the `advantage of perfect security because that part of the charge, that must be in direct communication with the ignitiontube, is screwed in its place only atA the moment Whenl the projectile is to be used.v As already stated besides this the percussion bolt can'only be put into action by a violent shock, so that in this respect also there is a new element of security.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same `is to be per formed, I declare that what I claim is:

l. In a projectile, an outer shell, an inner shell movably arranged Within the outer shell and having its head spaced from the inner Wall of the head of the outer shell, a charge in said inner shell, a cap of ductile material arranged on the head of the inner shell and adapted to be crushed on impact yexplosion of the charge.

2. In a projectile, a shell, anl explosive charge in ,said shell, a tube containing ,a'

slow burning charge adjacent to the explosive charge', a fulminating cap for said slow burning charge, a movable percussion bolt,

Vand a cap of ductile material forming the I point of the projectile and yengaging said' bolt to normally hold the bolt from engage-- -2 ment vWith the ulminating cap and adapted to be crushed on yimpact to permit the bolt to strike the fulminating cap.

3. In a projectile, a shell, anl explosive charge in said shell, a central tube removably tted in the shell and extending sub# stantially throughout the length of the shell, an explosive charge vin said tube separate from said first-named charge, a-second tube arranged in the head of the shell and projecting into said first-named tube, a slow burning charge in said second tube, and means for igniting said slow burning charge on impact.

vIn Witness whereof, said ROBERTO IMPE- RIA-Li has signed this specification.

ROBERTO IMPERIALI. 

